Elizabeth police say a car left running outside a Chinese food restaurant late Wednesday was stolen with a 7-year-old girl sitting in the front seat. The girl was later released unharmed.Frank H. Conlon / The Star-Ledger

ELIZABETH — After stealing a car in Elizabeth late Wednesday with a 7-year-old girl still in the vehicle, a thief later put the child out of the car on a Newark street late at night.

Authorities said the child went to a nearby home, where a female resident called police.

Elizabeth police say they received a call at 11:32 p.m. from a woman saying she had left her 2000 Toyota Corolla running when she went into the Jade Garden Restaurant at 1041 North Ave.

The victim told police her daughter was still in the front seat of the car. Witnesses reported seeing an African-American woman enter the Corolla and drive west on North Avenue.

Elizabeth police notified numerous police departments, and a short time late Newark police reported the child was found in the area of Chadwick Avenue in that city.

Police said the carjacker had removed the girl from the Corolla and drove off, and that's when the child went to a nearby house for help.

The girl was returned to her mother in good health, police said, and no medical attention was required.

Authorities are still looking for the stolen car, bearing New York license plate number EXY-5693. The car has a black front bumper and front end damage, police said.